Defining social enterprise: I like the Social Enterprise UK definition – A social enterprise is a business that trades for a social and/or environmental purpose. It will have a clear sense of its social mission, which means it will know what difference it is trying to make, who it aims to help, and how it plans to do it. It will bring in most or all of its income through selling goods or services. And it will also have clear rules about what it does with its profits, reinvesting these to further the social mission.

Workshops and networks: We are working at the moment with partners including the Asia Europe Foundation on a network of social entrepreneurs. We've held three workshops, which combined training, networking and ideas incubation, in Thailand, Burma and Vietnam. British and European entrepreneurs also took part. We try to build strong international networks and support them in supporting each other.

NGO to social enterprise: A lot of the organisations we work with are supporting NGOs in transition to social enterprises. It's not often cut and dried – in the first few years at least, they are still in receipt of charitable donations or other sources of funding. Other NGOs I have seen start up an enterprise of some sort – perhaps a charity shop, or some other sort of trading arm – as an additional source of income. A couple of organisations I recently visited in Burma fit these descriptions - FXB Myanmar and Proximity Design.

Sustainability: If it's not possible to launch an enterprise without getting caught up in legal and regulatory issues, but you still want to create a social action project, then look to ways to make it more sustainable.

Role of academics: Let's also not forget the role that can be played by the academic community. In Turkey, we have worked with Kadir Has University, now including social enterprise as part of their lifelong learning programme.

Reasons for growth: In some places, social entrepreneurs are looking for more sustainable ways of tackling issues they face. They feel charitable donations or foundational funding don't offer stability, so they look for more reliable sources of income. In other countries, such as China, there is an interest (as there is in the UK), of delivering better public services (or trying to), by putting power in the hands of the people and communities in receipt of those services.

Young entrepreneurs: On the global scale, I would speculate that as young people now have a much greater understanding of the wider world around them. We seem to be seeing a generation of young people who want to embed their values and aspirations in their working lives, and not have them as an adjunct.

The ability to measure social impact is key: It's certainly vital in seeking finance – investors want to know that their money is being well managed and that the organisation is achieving its stated goals. But in addition, I think being able to demonstrate social impact – people being brought out of poverty, young people having new skills, jobs being created, pollution diminished, whatever the aim of the social entrepreneur – is crucial to show the world that this is not "business as usual".

Agricultural projects have potential: If new technologies and access to state of the art skills and tools could be made affordable and available to greater numbers, then many lives would be enhanced. Proximity Design in Burma is trying to do just that, using local know how about the land, and local engineering skills, combined with expertise in design and innovation, to bring effective and affordable tools to local farmers.

Umbrella organisations: There is the umbrella organisation route, where social enterprises fund a central body to represent them, offer support and so on. We are trying to create more opportunities for entrepreneurs in the UK and the rest of the world to engage, share practice and have dialogue on policy, so keep an eye on the International Hub.

Defining social enterprise: The rather classical one that states that a social entrepreneur is somebody who wants to solve a social problem – whether it's people or planet – in an entrepreneurial way. At least 50%, and some even say 75%, of the revenues are own income – so no grants or subsidy. Others define "entrepreneurial" in the same way as Melinda Gates did at TEDxChange: using entrepreneurial strategies to solve a social problem.

Budget cuts: As budgets are being cut at this very moment, they turn to institutional grants as a solution. But that is not an entrepreneurial attitude, that's just replacing subsidies for grants. In Holland there is still the attitude that you earning money by doing good isn't the right thing. So, in order to survive I think they need to have a more entrepreneurial attitude, be more pro-active and be more open-minded.

NGOs to social enterprises: In Holland subsidies to NGO's are being cut and they're all thinking about how to survive. I think many people need to learn from others who made the switch from NGO to social enterprise.

Organisations working in social entrepreneurship: There are not so many organisations that are involved in social entrepreneurship. There used to be the Dutch Foundation of social entrepreneurship but because of a lack of money and a lack of interest it was shut down. I think for over 10 years Ashoka tried to enter Dutch market, but it didn't succeed. But for some time now some people are working on the introduction of Social Enterprise NL, an initiative that focuses on helping and promoting social entrepreneurship. It looks really promising and it is set to launch in September.

Financial crisis a good thing? I must say, I sometimes praised the crisis. Because it made people think of how they can work in an social entrepreneurial way. It made them look at the real problems, not at the problems the grant-takers or governments want to solve. So the crises also gave a boost to social enterprise, to the people who were already involved and also to the idea and image of social enterprise.

More focus on social innovation: In Holland there is a focus on ecological or green innovation while social innovations is left behind. But with government backing in this area, it will develop.

Lack of legal structure: In UK you can register as CIC, in US as B Corps. Here in Holland we are a bit jealous about that.

Scaling up: It's an important issue. In Holland there are no large social enterprises. I have several discussions about scaling up. Of course, as a social enterprise you want to scale your social impact. But do you scale by having more employees in a quantitative way, or do you scale in a qualitative way? In other words, staying small but improving your service or product.

Foundations and enterprises: In Holland there is a big difference between foundations and enterprise. As a foundation it is almost impossible to get investments because you're obliged to use your profits to fulfill your mission. As a foundation you are not allowed to pay it to your shareholders. Meanwhile, as an enterprise it is very hard to find any grants or subsidies because the grant-makers state that they don't want their money to be used to develop an enterprise that is going to make profits.

NGO support: There are a lot of foreign NGOs trying to support local social entrepreneurs. In Indonesia for example, when I started to form my social enterprise I was supported by a program initiated by British Council Indonesia and Arthur Guinness Fund. It was a huge stepping stone for us to develop our business and at the same time tackling social problems.

Connecting with the community: One of the biggest challenges I face is engaging the community. It took us more than a year to finally convince them to collaborate with us. The first time we talked to farmers about value added production in making soaps out of roses it did not go that smoothly. But when we demonstrated how it works they understood how it helped them become less dependent on the middleman.

Lack of professional skills: None of the founders of Wangsa Jelita had a background in business or management. In dealing with this we are helped by being mentored or coached from someone who is expert in certain area that we want to work on.

Business modelling: This is just as relevant to non-profits as it is for profit focused organisations. It can help people start to broaden what they think about that evil word! For example, social profits, financial profits, environmental profits. Fundamentally modelling helps them to put all the essential elements of a focused enterprise together. This overtakes the focus on profit or non-profit and allows impact and customer orientation to emerge.

Value of internships: Quite a broad partnership here in Cyprus has started with action around internships. Early findings have provided rich insights into the culture change required within companies and with students. Some really interesting ideas emerging about life-long networks and associations that could support very talented people to start an international career while keeping their unique island home as the hub.

CSR strategy: Employability and employment are emerging as the principle CSR activity. What I love about here, is that, from whatever sector, the focus is always on the issue. So with CSR they are focused on the problem, being creative about how each sector can play a role. Then, when there is excitement and clarity, the companies are willing to invest alongside others. This includes NGOs and social enterprises committing their own resources. They believe they have to have a CSR strategy rather than believing they should be someone else's CSR strategy. So for example, instead of working up a project on employability and trying to raise project funds, they collaborate earlier and then engage in what is created by those stakeholders. The largest companies accept a role in holding court over these developments including some of the development costs. The success is everyone playing their part based on what they have, rather than competing for a role they want.

Support for managers: Linked to employability there is also an acceptance that, in lieu of having had this effort in place there is a generation of managers that also need support. So this then links to efforts to build capacity of managers and leaders within organisations. This is something that we have just started to target.

Investment culture: There is investment here into family firms and groups of companies, there are also some small foundations, which are not as apolitical as they could be. There may be an opportunity under the banner of sustainable investment to keep a useful link between investment in companies and investment in social enterprises and NGOs. I don't mean one size fits all, I mean a strategic approach to sustainable investment which is tailored for each sector.

Investment readiness: I have worked with organisations that were almost born investment ready and organisation that will never be investment ready. The investment readiness process we use was tested as part of a programme with NESTA and the Cabinet Office. The process of getting investment ready took consideration of the fact that the organisations are most likely to be already a going concern, rather than a start up.

CIC model is great: My partner in Radical Capital was instrumental in encouraging a greater dividend limit. This is because the original (5%) would have blocked out more social investors. It is a bit like our definition debate though. Just because you have a useful structure doesn't make you a great enterprise. I have worked with excellent social enterprises using 'for-profit' structures that have been able to access capital and move money for reinvestment more easily than they would as a CIC.

Growing in underdeveloped markets: They will be challenged to become market makers and that is something we will become involved in. This is not just a test of their business model, but how their commitment to achieving the goal informs their ideas for educating stakeholders, customers and investors. Social enterprises and enterprising NGOs will engage with businesses in the commercial sectors differently. In lieu of project funding and programmes, some may lay solid foundations by doing business together.

Manju George, co-founder and head of corporate development at Intellecap, India

Farming and social enterprise: Agriculture and rural business is one of the sectors we focus on and we have an awards track dedicated to this sector in our annual forum. A community based example is the Masutha producers company (created by PRADAN, the NGO). A slightly more commercial example can be INI Farms, a company that does commercial pomegranate cultivation. There are also efforts to increase land productivity.

NGOs shifting to social enterprise in India: Most microfinance institutions in India started at NGOs in the 1990's and early 2000's and by 2005 almost all made the shift to a for-profit legal structure. Those that came after started as for-profits directly.

Water-focused social enterprises: Community based water treatment plants, initially a largely NGO led activity, is now adopted by many for-profit models. Education, largely the domain of NGOs now have many private players – affordable private schools, night schools and remedial education, alternative curriculum developers and so on. Vocational skill training is another area where there is a huge shift to private sector activity.

Support is always needed: Anybody trying to promote and catalyse social enterprise activity needs to make sure that they make available a variety of support that the social enterprises need. This includes money, connections, advice, hand holding, visibility and information. A narrower approach will not really move the needle. There needs to be an 'ecosystem' of people, tools and policies that support them. One organisation may not be able to do all; but multiple organisations complementary to each other can create this ecosystem.

Eco-problems: When we talk of the ecosystem, it is also important to recognise that there are some industry/market level challenges that need to be dealt with beyond direct support to the social enterprise – for instance the lack of awareness about off grid and renewable energy solutions, lack of access to consumer and SME finance and lack of quality assurance and standards are common challenges that multiple energy social enterprise face in India. There has to be intervention that try and tackle these, help 'build the market' and make it easier for the social enterprise. This is where philanthropic capital can play a significant role to play (for example IFC's Lighting Africa program and the recently launched Lighting India program).

For-profit structures have better prospects: Not surprisingly, social enterprises with for-profit structures have access to a larger and diverse pool of capital that can fuel their growth and impacts much faster. Most NGO-microfinance to for-profit microfinance transformations saw this happen. Growth of microfinance in India between 2005 and 2011 was phenomenal. However, it also brought along with it the debate on 'how much profits is good and acceptable'. How to balance making money for the investors and deepening social impact?

Financial crisis has increased focus on social enterprise: I was at the Davos Forum earlier this year and of course the dominant theme was the need to 'reimagine capitalism' and to find a 'new economic models that is inclusive and responsible'. Many seem to highlight social entrepreneurs and their work as pioneering in this regard and as proof that you can do good and well.

The need to go mainstream: Most social enterprises remain small, doing work in local communities, lack access to resources and find it difficult to scale their operations and are no way comparable to mainstream business corporations. The idea is still not as 'mainstream' as I would like it to be.

Awareness of CSR is encouraging: We are also encouraged by the growing interest from large corporations simply because we need them to address the magnitude of development challenges we face in countries like India. Social enterprises can't do this alone. Last year we started some work with DFID managing their Business Innovation Facility in India; we work with large corporations here and many are looking to get involved. However, the general risk tolerance is definitely much lower than a social enterprise. They will not put big money in without the business case being absolutely clear.

Social enterprise in India is rapidly on the rise: In our annual awards forum, we get close to 60 new social enterprise applications every year. And many are significantly larger than employing 250 people. We recently surveyed 100 social enterprises in India and at least one third of them are operating in over 100 localities and touching more than 50,000 base of the pyramid lives annually. Before the microfinance crisis in India in 2010, the largest MFI has over 40,000 employees including field staff. So certainly the scale is much larger, but not enough as we still have 300-400 million people below the poverty line.

Social enterprise and disaster recovery: I'm in Sendai, where is a capital city around the disaster area. This year we've started a social entrepreneur incubation program for disaster recovery. Many young entrepreneurs are trying to transform old traditional industry such as agriculture and fisheries. This is also a good opportunity to re-construct disaster area.

On the fringes: 'Social enterprise' is not very common yet, especially outside of Tokyo. If you pick people in crossroad of Shibuya (where our office locates) and ask if they know about social enterprise, only 1-2% would know. But innovators know what they are and corroboration between social enterprises and companies is getting more and more common.

Triple crisis not financial crisis encouraged social enterprise: 2008 crisis pushed issues but didn't empower social entrepreneurship nor the companies to be more social. Some of them reduced their CSR budget. What did change people's perceptions was the triple crisis of 2011.

Fellowship program for the next generation: We've done it with more than 4,000 college students throughout Japan. And last year, we started to involve young professionals to support disaster area too. We've sent over 100, and it's a bit contributing changing mindset and attitude or "work" in Japan.

Defining social enterprise in US: There is not one definition in the US but generally it means that a company creates a positive impact by doing business. So also a market-based approach by practitioners.

Alternatives to Wall Street: I don't know if there actually are more social enterprise in terms of numbers because of the financial crisis. But it probably has lead to new forms of social enterprises and topics for them like Slow Money NYC who state "We hope to reshape roles for investors and extend the definition of investment, providing alternatives to Wall Street."

Legal status: In the US there actually is a legal status (B Corp). It's quite new and was first introduced by the State of New York and now passed in eight or nine States. It's also a result of the financial crisis, which also emerged because of the need to increase shareholder value. The new legislation allows B Corps to prioritise stakeholder value (social and environmental).

Business acumen is crucial: There is an urgent need for such input — writing a good business plan for a social and green enterprise can go a long way towards achieving the desired results and sustainability. It also helps to convince banks to provide the necessary credit. A suggestion to create a local voluntary time bank where such expertise can be tapped into by the entrepreneur.

Double crisis: there are two crisis which need to be considered in the modern definition of business. 1) no doubt the financial crisis but increasingly it is 2) the crisis of depleting natural resources which are affecting business globally. But disproportionately those whose livelihood is directly impacted by changes in land, water and eco-system. The recent debate on green economy is important in the context of new social enterprise.

India needs leadership: The social impact of the organization together with the environmental best practices /impact gives a true picture of the social enterprise in the modern global economic development paradigm. I do believe India can and should show real leadership here. Here's my article highlighting India's traditional practices have done much, but their efforts are dismissed as small scale and backwards.

Vocational training: Interesting point about vocational training. Here in the UK we have seen that some charities have started providing training on their core skills to generate their own revenue. LeapCC is one such example. Some small to medium charities are evolving particularly at the moment as donations have slowed here.

Philanthropy is rife: When we were in New Orleans, we were amazed by the number of graduates from across the USA who moved down there to help with the clean up for a period of time. Even more surprising was how they were staying and setting up lives there. The AmeriCorps were also supportive in sending volunteers which may be a useful model? See the St. Bernard Project.

Partnering with businesses: In the USA we saw this a lot, where companies such as Macy's would help build a social enterprise building at a University or perhaps sit on their social enterprise company board to provide commercial advice to the team. Being open to new/different ways of engaging with social enterprises is key to supporting the ecosystem and its development as there are commercial lessons to be learnt as well.

Rathish Balakrishnan

Student fellowships: One of the trends in India is for students to apply for "fellowships" which are often one to two years of immersive experience in a social setting where they work with the community to come up with solutions to social problems.

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